Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), the Italian Baroque artist painted ‘Narcissus’ (1597-99), oil on canvas, 43 inches × 36 inches, depicting the story of Narcissus, the son of a Nymph Liriope and the river God Cephissus.

According to the Latin mythology and later described by the poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses, Narcissus was an exceptionally handsome young man who was desired by men and women who were enchanted by his beauty. One day he stooped down to drink water and fell in love with his own reflection. The artist has portrayed symbolically that the subject is engulfed in an inevitable misery of falling in love with the impossible. The viewers can feel the sadness in the air as Caravaggio shows the scene with a dramatic spotlight on the figure, with the surrounding halo of darkness. It is displayed in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Rome.—M.I

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, July 19th, 2015

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